The History of Jewelry, Jewellery and Jewelery - 1Earth Jewelry, Antiques and Appraisals Magazine

As times change, so do jewelry styles. Roy DeNunzio traces the evolution of jewelry design against the backdrop of a century of history, from the Civil War to nuclear fission.
Georgian Jewelry
Revolutions champion the rights of man in the American Colonies and France. The steam engine is invented, breaking the first ground for the Industrial Revolution. Uranus is discovered. So is Uranium. The first photographic image is made. Jewelry is balanced, symmetrical, regal and elegant. Read more about Georgian Jewelry

Victorian Jewelry
During the 64-year reign of Queen Victoria, Edison introduces the light bulb, the Lumiere brothers usher in the Cinema, and Marconi makes the world a little smaller with his wireless cable. In jewelry, flora and fauna reigned and the era's great archeological discoveries inspired tributes to ancient Greek and Egyptian designs. Read more about Victorian Jewelry

Edwardian Jewelry
The Wright Brothers take to the skies at Kitty Hawk and Madame Curie discovers radioactivity. Henry Ford mass produces his Model T and Leo Baekeland introduces the world to plastic. Master jewelers like Cartier create delicate and romantic feathers, tassels, swags of foliage, garlands of flowers, ribbons, and triumphal laurel wreaths in delicate platinum set with diamonds and pearls. Read more about Edwardian Jewelry

Art Nouveau Jewelry
At the same time the conventional Victorian and Edwardian period flourished, the avant-garde embraced the radical design of Art Nouveau. In jewelry as in painting and other arts, Art Nouveau design used fanciful, swirling lines, celebrating the mysteries of nature and femininity. Read more about Art Nouveau Jewelry

Art Deco Jewelry
The flowering of design that the Art Deco movement represents is the result of the collision of art and industry: the first glimpse of the modern. Rockefeller Center, temple of Art Deco, survives today to attest to the movement's great influence. And, of course, there was the jewelry: geometric, symmetrical, and dramatic, with bold patterns of black and white with shots of bright color. Read more about Art Deco Jewelry

Retro Jewelry
Say hello to nuclear fission, the computer, the microwave oven, the Xerox copier and the Polaroid. The United Nations is born, Israel is reborn, and Gandhi is assassinated. In jewelry, the drama of curved lines replaces geometry, and yellow gold replaces platinum. Read more about Retro Jewelry here

1950s Jewelry
The first color TV transmissions have a more lasting effect on the American memory than the Korean War. The Soviet Union wakes America up to the space race when it launches Spuntnik. Elvis and Rock 'n' Roll lead teenagers down the merry road to Hell, at least according to their parents. Reddi-Whip, Coffee-Mate, TV dinners, M&Ms and McDonalds assault the American palette. Jewelry is big, bold, colorful and in tune with the prosperity of the times. Read more about 1950s Jewelry

1960s Jewelry
The dawning of The Age of Aquarius saw the rising of the Berlin Wall, and the assassinations of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King. The laser is invented. Someone brings up the fact that smoking may be dangerous. The Do-Your-Own-Thing credo of the 60s transformed the world of jewelry design by exponentially exploding the factor of individualism. Experimentation with shape, form and texture was rampant. Read more about Sixties Jewelry

1970s Jewelry
Everyone is at war. Arabs against Israelis, India against Pakistan, South Vietnam against North Vietnam, Turkey against Cyprus, Indonesia against East Timor. Civil war rages in Ireland, Lebanon, Africa and Portugal. The oil crisis makes the Sunday drive obsolete. America withdraws from Vietnam in defeat and spends the rest of the decade wearing awful clothes and getting high. Feminism means that women no longer wait for their husbands to buy them jewelry. The East, especially India, powerfully influences jewelry design. Read more about Seventies Jewelry